ASSESSMENT. 1. The presence of State aid within the meaning of Article 61(1) EEA Agreement
ASSESSMENT. 1. The presence of State aid within the meaning of Article 61(1) EEA Article 61(1) EEA reads as follows: „Save as otherwise provided in this Agreement, any aid granted by EC Member States, EFTA States or through State resources in any form whatsoever which distorts or threatens to distort competition by favouring certain undertakings or the production of certain goods shall, in so far as it affects trade between Contracting Parties, be incompatible with the functioning of this Agreement.” As demonstrated below, a initial examination of the contested funding would suggest that these elements are all present.
ASSESSMENT. 3.1. Local sourcing in Xi’an (China) between [25-30] % and [31-35] %
(40) The Commission notes that Samsung SDI and the Hungarian authorities currently admit that the hypothesis of 100 % local sourcing in China might have been unrealistic at the moment of the location decision, and that a correction to substantially reduced quotas of [25-30] % to [31-35] % is proposed instead. The evidence put forward to justify these numbers (see recitals (9) to (11)) is based on:
(a) the sourcing experience with [5-10] Chinese suppliers, from 2015 to 2019 (so partly after the location 2017 decision), of another factory in Tianjin (China) owned by Samsung SDI which was set up in 1996 and produced batteries for mobile devices (31);
ASSESSMENT. 1. Scope of the State aid assessment in this Decision
(1) See letter from the Norwegian authorities dated 29.5.2009 (Event No 520013) p. 12. (2) Lov om helsetjenesten i kommunene of 19 November 1982 No 66. Hereinafter referred to as the MHS Act.
(3) Case C-280/00 Altmark Trans and Regierungspräsidium Magdeburg (2003) ECR I-7747. See also case T-289/03 BUPA (2008) ECR II-81.
1.1. Funds stemming from the county municipality of Nordland
ASSESSMENT. 43. A measure constitutes State aid in the meaning of Article 107(1) TFEU if it is ‘granted by a Member State or through State resources in any form whatsoever which distorts or threatens to distort competition by favouring certain undertakings or the production of certain goods […] in so far as it affects trade between Member States.
44. The beneficiary will receive support from the UK Government-owned counterparty, the Low Carbon Contracts Company Ltd, for the electricity generated by the notified project. The notified measure favours the generation of electricity from renewable sources (in this case biomass) by the selected beneficiary. Electricity is widely traded between Member States. The notified measure is therefore assumed to distort competition on the electricity market and affect trade between the Member States. Moreover, the plant will compete for biomass fuel in the raw material market. More specifically, due to a lack of sufficient local forestry resources, most of the biomass needed to fuel the plant will be imported from abroad. There is therefore a risk that the measure might distort competition in the raw material market. Therefore the notified measures constitute State aid in the meaning of Article 107 TFEU.
ASSESSMENT. 1. The presence of State aid
(81) Article 61(1) of the EEA Agreement reads as follows: ‘Save as otherwise provided in this Agreement, any aid granted by EC Member States, EFTA States or through State resources in any form whatsoever which distorts or threatens to distort competition by favouring certain undertakings or the production of certain goods shall, in so far as it affects trade between contracting parties, be incompatible with the functioning of this Agreement.’
(82) The Authority will in the following assess whether the four alleged measures referred to in the complaint constitute State aid within the meaning of Article 61 of the EEA Agreement. The Authority will assess (i) whether there are State resources involved, (ii) whether the alleged measures confer an economic advantage on the relevant entities of the Oslo Sporveier Group, and
ASSESSMENT. 3. State aid within the meaning of Article 61(1) EEA and the classification of such aid as new or existing
3.1. The aid elements of the Icelandic system of implicit State guarantees
(1) The original Icelandic text is as follows: ‘Aðrar skuldbindingar Íbúðalánasjóðs eru hins vegar ekki undanþegnar gjaldskyldu þar sem ekki er lagt fé í varasjóð til að mæta útlánatöpum vegna lánveitinga á grundvelli þeirra.’.
(2) Opinion of the Economic and Commerce Committee of Alþingi, the Authority's unofficial translation.
(3) Case E-1/00 State Debt Management Agency [2000-2001] EFTA Court Report, p. 8. For a measure to be classified as State aid within the meaning of Article 61(1) of the EEA Agreement, it must be granted by the State or through State resources, confer an advantage on the recipient undertaking, be selective and thereby distort or threaten to distort competition and be liable to affect trade between the Contracting Parties. Before examining each of these conditions in turn, the Authority makes the following remarks concerning the scope of the present decision to open the formal investigation procedure: As any other undertaking organised as a public institution, the HFF enjoys an implicit State guarantee in the same manner as did the predecessors of the HFF from the start of their operations in the 1950's, cf. Act No 42/1957. The HFF pays neither a market based premium for the guarantee, nor the premium laid down in Act No 121/1997 on State Guarantees. The implicit State guarantee for this type of public undertaking was at the outset granted without any obli- gation to pay a premium. However, Icelandic system for implicit State guarantees was changed in 1987. From this point in time, a guarantee premium was to be paid for foreign commitments, but not for domestic ones. The original State guarantee scheme, with the changes introduced in 1987, thus predates the EEA Agreement. The Icelandic system relating to implicit guarantees was changed again as of 1 January 1998 when a general obligation to pay a guarantee premium was also introduced as regards domestic commitments. Considering the size of the premium the Authority finds it unlikely that the guarantee premium removed aid contained in the original guarantee scheme. Therefore, in the Authority's preliminary opinion, the original guarantee scheme still contains State aid. The State aid element will generally be the difference between the appropriate market price for the guarantee provided and the price paid ...
ASSESSMENT. 1. The presence of State aid within the meaning of Article 61(1) EEA
(1) The definite time of the final settlement is normally specified in the agreement.
(2) Act No 125/2008 entered into force upon publication.
(3) According to the agreement between the parties of the swap, the final price was to be settled on 15.4.2009.
(4) Agreement signed on 20.5.2009 for the value of ISK […].
(5) Agreement signed on 3 July and 5 August 2009 for the final value of ISK […] and ISK […] respectively.
ASSESSMENT. 1. The presence of State aid within the meaning of Article 61(1) EEA Agreement
(1) Guidelines on the application and interpretation of Articles 61 and 62 of the EEA Agreement and Article 1 of Protocol 3 to the Surveillance and Court Agreement, adopted and issued by the Authority on 19.1.1994, published in the Official Journal of the European Union (hereinafter referred to as OJ) L 231, 3.9.1994, p. 1 and EEA Supplement No 32, 3.9.1994, p. 1. Hereinafter referred to as the State Aid Guidelines. The updated version of the State Aid Guidelines is published on the Authority’s website (xxxx://xxx.xxxxxxxx.xxx/xxxxx-xxx/xxxxx-xxxxxxxxx/ state-aid-guidelines/).
(2) Hereinafter referred to the Guidelines on sale of land.
(3) Decision No 195/04/COL of 14 July 2004 (published in OJ L 139, 25.5.2006, p. 37 and EEA Supplement No 26, 25.5.2006, p. 1), as amended. A consolidated version of the Decision can be found online (xxxx://xxx.xxxxxxxx.xxx). favouring certain undertakings or the production of certain goods shall, in so far as it affects trade between Contracting Parties, be incompatible with the functioning of this Agreement’.
ASSESSMENT